on the broadcast tonight, closing the gap, the new polling numbers that show how that debate changed the race, and the new front romney opened up on the president today. outbreak, more people are sick from meningitis tonight, the attempt to find those at risk. and more on the hand sanitizers that are popular everywhere, how could they be a bad thing? we'll tell you what the doctors believe. and making a difference, you see them at the airport, sniffing, doing their job, and wait until you hear what they over came to make it to the pros, nightly news begins now.

this is nbc nightly news with brian williams. good evening, if you were among the over 60 million of us who watched the presidential debate, then you know we saw two things that night, really, an energized mitt romney, and la lackluc kt e railroad president obama, there was new polling when they opened up against the president, the numbers show the race trending, tightening, trending towards romney, at least right now, we begin with peter alexander, traveling with the romney campaign. >> reporter: brian, good evening to you, a romney adviser tells me that the campaign is stronger, that the candidate is increasingly confident. he tried to draw a sharp contrast on the issue of national security. with just 29 days to go,

following the last debate, the race is quickly tightening, but remains volatile. the polls had different results. the latest poll shows romney leads, now up four points between the likely voters, but a new gallup poll shows the president up by five. looking to capitalize on his momentum, today, romney tried to frame himself as a steady commander-in-chief, and in what his campaign feels is a major foreign policy speech, accusing president obama of weak leadership. >> i know that president obama hopes for a weaker middle east, but hope is not a strategy. >> reporter: and calling for a change of course, but offering few new policy details, romney argued that the middle east is a more dangerous place since the president took office, citing serious civil war. the potential of a nuclear iran,

and last month's terrorist attack in libya, that left four americans, including the u.s. ambassador, dead. >> it is our responsibility, and the responsibility of the president to use his greatest power to shape history, not to lead from behind. >> reporter: the obama campaign was quick with a rebut all, they talked about specifics. >> now i'm a professor, he gave absolutely no specifics. >> reporter: in california today, president obama appealed to hispanics, dedicating the first ever national monument to a contemporary mexican-american, the late labor leader, caesar chavez. with the stakes higher than ever, the president put a spin on his own debate performance, rallying the supporters at a concert in hollywood last night. >> my understanding, it was an incredible show. and everybody here is an incredible professional, such great friends, and they just performed flawlessly night after

night, and i can't always say the same. >> reporter: in today's speech, mitt romney also appeared to try to take away from the president's signature success overseas, as to the death of osama bin laden. he credited the military and professionals for that. >> here, traveling with the romney campaign, in virginia tonight, peter, thank you, and to the rest of our team, chief affairs correspondent andrea mitchell and our white house director, chuck todd, both in the washington bureau. chuck, let's begin with you, two new polls, different sets of numbers, what do the numbers tell you? >> reporter: look, when i dug into them, they both told us the same thing, there is a spike in the republican enthusiasm for romney, that is why you see the voters shifting towards romney. and it depends on how you wait to sample. and yes, one poll seems to be a little more republican than the

gallup goal -- polls, there is more enthusiasm among likely republican voters than likely democratic voters. this has been a problem for the democrats for six months, and you're seeing more in this poll than the last debate. and the big moment will be joe biden, and paul ryan, you see them prepping in a way they have not done before. they have done a lot of mock debate sessions with joe biden. paul ryan has never been on this big a stage before. he has reviewed the sarah palin debate, watched joe biden's speeches to try to get a sense of joe biden. they will be seated. but i can tell you the republicans are a bit nervous about this, because joe biden is very good in settings like this, because -- being a u.s. senator. now, andrea, what was the chief take away from the speech

that romney gave today. i know he did emphasize for a while, libya, of course that has been an ongoing situation for the united states. >> reporter: in fact, it was all benghazi, benghazi, and that is really the reason, the romney campaign attacking the white house on foreign policy, they believe that the white house is lacking in the foreign policies. they worry that the al-qaeda affiliates were active in the campaign militias. daryl issa is holding hearings this wednesday, focusing in part on this e-mail from the embassy in tripoli, last february, asking to leave a special team in libya for another four months. the commander of that team will reportedly testify that ambassador chris stevens, who of course died in the raid, wanted to keep the team even longer but of course was let down. it is not clear how long the security agents stayed. tonight, they say the original

team was being fazed out as libya teams took over, and could not have prevented the fatal attack in benghazi. the top terrorism official is on his way to libya to make his own assessment tomorrow. so you can tell the white house is taking it very seriously. >> andrea mitchell in the d.c. news room, along with chuck todd, thank you both tonight. there is news tonight on the tainted outbreak. there are more cases and more deaths sadly to report tonight. the cdc says the number of confirmed infections is up to 105 in nine different states. the death toll has gone up to eight. our report tonight from nbc's tom costello. >> reporter: at st. thomas hospital in nashville, 71-year-old janet russell remains in intensive care,

battling meningitis. >> to watch mom, shake, and grab her head in pain should not happen. >> reporter: her symptoms began in early september, a week after she received a common steroid injection for back pain. investigators believe the steroid was contaminated and came from the new england compounding center which shipped the vials to doctors and clinics in 23 states. now there have been eight deaths, among them, diana reid, last week. >> my heart is broken for the loss of my dear friend and for her husband and boys right now. >> reporter: so for, they are reporting the most cases, now 13,000 people may have been potentially exposed to the contaminated health care medication, and they warn people who received the injections between late june and september to get checked. fungal meningitis cannot be spread, the symptoms are sickness, confusion, an

inability to maintain balance. >> the period is up to a month, so we expect new cases to be discovered around the country for the next several weeks, i'm afraid. >> reporter: how did this happen? as demand for the less expensive medicines have grown, they have mixed medications. the compounders are regulated by states, not the fda. >> so sometimes it is hard to know whether or not in fact there are no risks with these compounded drugs, because they're under no obligation to report them to the fda. >> reporter: tonight, with so many people potentially at risk the number of cases keeps rising. tom costello, nbc news, washington. and we have another health news story. five million people are infected with numbers expected to grow with alzheimer's as the nation's population ages. now, there is hope for an effective treatment. our report from our chief

science correspondent, robert bazell. >> reporter: for the first time ever, an experimental drug is showing great promise of slowing the alzheimer's disease. >> this is the first time we are seeing a slowing of the cognitive decline in patients with alzheimer's disease in this type of drug treatment. >> reporter: at first, the experiment experimental drug seemed to fail as has every experimental drug to date. but when the manufacturer looked at it more closely, it found those with more mild disease had a less memory loss than those with the placebo, the 71-year-old retired expert still functions well. >> there are things that take a lot longer than they used to because i keep forgetting the order in which things have to be done. >> reporter: the results presented today combined studies

with a total of 2,000 patients in the last two months. most scientists say it wouldn't be enough to reach the fda approval. but further studies show that it could help people with early alzheimer's disease. the drug is certainly not the cure that everybody wants, but for al krieger and millions with alzheimer's, it is one of the first hopeful outcomes as researchers battle this tough disease. robert bazell, nbc news. and a story out of pennsylvania, on the eve of his sentencing on 45 counts of child sex abuse, the defiant former state coach, sandusky, is lashing out at his accusers, saying they were out for attention, financial gain and press tij, he als says the trial was unfair, and he will continue to fight for another

chance. we'll have a report on the final sentencing tomorrow here on this broadcast. and in venezuela, an unprecedented third term for social president hugo chavez, who won re-election even as he battled cancer. he won over many of his people by using his oil profits to help the poor and with free homes and other things in that society. many in this country worry his victory could mean even higher gas prices. and while we're on the subject, california drivers may finally be getting a break. after setting another record, the average price for a gallon of regular hit 4.67 per gallon today. the california governor jerry brown has given the go-ahead to refiners to process a less expensive and less cleaner burning fuel known as the winter blend in the trade, three weeks earlier than they planned. that should bring prices down about 15 cents a gallon. before you know it our attentions will turn to heating

costs. this will go down as the weather changed for the season in a lot of areas, as canada sends us its very best cold air. in just the last week there were 409 record lows tied or broken. and depending on where you lived, the warm weather just went away and won't be back until next year. still ahead as we continue along the way on a monday night. the dirty little secret about the hand sanitizers and the experts who fear the cost of good intentions. and later, making a difference, how they're helping us and we're helping them. and where this story all started. jill and her mouth have lived a great life. but she has some dental issues she's not happy about. so jill's dentist introduced her to crest pro-health for life. selected for people over 50. pro-health for life is a toothpaste that defends against tender, inflamed gums, sensitivity and weak enamel. conditions people over 50 experience. crest pro-health for life.

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starting today, our network has launched a campaign to make this healthy week. and tonight we're looking at something that has become a huge help to clean up on the go, but may have its own long-term down side. the hand sanitizers that are for sale everywhere, in use everywhere, hospitals, offices, the fact that now seemingly everything is anti-bacteriaal. well now it turns out that some of the experts feel there is such a thing as being too clean. our report from our chief medical editor, dr. nancy snyderman. >> reporter: put it on surfaces,

repeat, it has become a familiar move in the battle against germs. the dirty little secret is that most germs are harmless, in fact, many are good for us. >> if you're in an environment where it is too clean you could get the next infection that comes along. >> give me a deep breath. >> reporter: the doctor says our super clean life-style could be partly to blame for the rise in the number of people with allergies and asthma. >> i view the immune system as an army, and if it doesn't have anything to fight, in many cases it will fight allergens. >> dogs, cats, trees. >> reporter: she has allergies, as well as three of her friends at school. >> we can't be like a normal kid. >> reporter: recent studies give new weight to the decades-old theory that some germs help our

systems, between the harmful and harmless irritants. these findings of this population shows that kids raised on cow farms had reduced risk of allergies. >> there is a link between the farming community having less of a link between the allergies, and the kids having less of them as they grow up. >> reporter: the experts say the alcohol-based sanitizers do have a place in our lives. in hospitals, public places, and for those of us with compromised immune systems. >> the key is to balance personal cleanliness and personal safety and weigh it against the risks of diseases. >> doctors agree that we need a balance of germs in our environment. so now of course coming into cold and flu season and simple hand washing with soap, yes, that is the ticket. there is no reason to over do it

with everything anti-bacteriaal, a little bit common sense. okay, how about the hand rail in the new york city subway system? >> you can wash your hands afterwards with normal soap and water after. >> all right, thank you, i'll go out and look for new germs, thank you very much. up next, the high speed crash that scared even the hardened veterans who thought they had seen it all. [ feedback ] attention, well, everyone. you can now try snapshot from progressive free for 30 days. just plug this into your car, and your good driving can save you up to 30%. you could even try it without switching your insurance. why not give it a shot? carry on. now you can test-drive snapshot before you switch. visit progressive.com today. by the armful? by the barrelful?

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we have seen the first foot print from the mars rover, looking just like neil armstrong's first foot print on the moon. and just to prove that the soil works on the planet,dale earnhardt, jr., who lost his dad to car racing, saw what he called blood thirsty racing. the veteran driver in the lead, tony stewart, made a mistake at 200 miles an hour, caused the wreck that collected 25 cars. at super speedways like talladega, they call these the big one, and because the cars are so evenly matched, they bunch up while behind each other in the conga lines, three and two wide. and somebody wrote, true love is dead, danny devito and rhea

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every day in the country, good hearted people adopt dogs and cats from shelters to save a life and give a pet a good home. tonight's "making a difference report" shows a few special dogs whose lives were saved and end up helping the rest of us. our report tonight from nbc, katy tur. >> reporter: don't be fooled by his fuzzy face, he will sniff you out. >> do you have food for him? this is a game of hide and seek, he likes to find things. >> reporter: he and his handler have been patrolling the baggage claims there at the national airport for 15 years, just one of the team across the country that take about 75 items annually at america's ports of entry, things like fruit, meats and plants that could

potentially devastate u.s. agriculture. >> actually could see some of the disease on these leaves. >> reporter: but before these dogs could call america's airports their home, many of them, like linus, didn't have a home at all. at an animal rescue shelter just outside the city, mike smith of the national detecting dog training center is hunting for new recruits. >> we're looking for dogs with good focus. >> reporter: lots of cute dogs who need love, but sadly no beagles, but before they get to work, they have to go to school. the training takes about six months, and then they're off. >> they search hard, these dogs work really hard. >> reporter: the program has saved thousands of beagles nobody wanted. now, at six years old, linus has only about three years left before he retires and goes home with rusty. >> you can tell if imnot looking

at you, now how could i give up something like that? from abandoned pets to crime-fighting dogs, protecting the u.s. border. katy tur, atlanta. good dog, that is our broadcast on a monday night as we start our new week.